The benefits of hosting Eurovision are contested. But Liverpool has that song contest to thank, improbably enough, for wooing an exiled writer back to her native city. Helen Serafinowicz is the co-writer of BBC sitcoms Motherland and, more recently, Amandaland. The world of TV, you might think, is at her feet – but instead she’s returning to Merseyside with a debut theatre show, a swords-and-sorcery pastiche about the relationship between Wayne and Coleen Rooney, rejoicing in the title The Legend of Rooney’s Ring.
“I’ve started reconnecting with Liverpool recently,” says Serafinowicz, scouse accent unmistakable as she dishes up a cuppa at her home in Norwich. “And I was invited to the Eurovision song contest in the city a few years ago.” While there, she went to see her friend, the actor Keddy Sutton, in a Jonathan Harvey play called A Thong for Europe at the Royal Court theatre. This was where teenage Helen used to watch heavy metal bands: elitist middle-class theatre the Royal Court is not. “It seems to have opened itself up to everyone.” And the play? “It was mad, but very funny. It showed that you can be very silly and true to Liverpool without taking the piss. That unlocked a lot of stuff for me. I began to think I might have some ideas.”
